I've had anxiety, panic attacks and depression on and off for 18 years.
I often feel ill, not bad enough to go to bed, but just not completely well.
Sometimes I go to the doctor and usually end up with anti-biotics and something to calm my anxiety.
I've often posted on here asking whether anyone knows whether anxiety can in fact make a person feel ill. Most people have answered saying that they often feel unwell with various symptoms which have been put down to anxiety, but no-one could tell me why.
Since I suffer from Health Anxiety, everytime I feel unwell it triggers anxiety. Eventually I don't know what are symptoms of anxiety and what are symptoms of a true illness.
Yesterday I went to see an amazing doctor who explained to me all about adrenaline and cortisol. I can't remember all the details but I wanted to pass this info on to anyone who is concerned about the above like me.
When we're anxious our bodies produce adrenaline and I think we all know what this is for (running away from lions etc). When we don't need it anymore our bodies produce cortisol to neutralise the adrenaline and then we feel calm and well again.
Because our anxiety and panic attacks are not how how body is meant to function, we produce so much adrenaline that's not needed (how often do you have to run away from a lion?!) and our bodies can't produce enough cortisol to neutralise it, and in some cases our bodies stop producing cortisol completely.
So we're left with all that adrenaline and nothing to use it up on. It then causes inflammation in the body and weakens our immune system.
Hence we start feeling ill and don't know why.
Sorry that I don't have the ability to explain this better but I'm sure if you google it you'll come up with lots of scientific explanations.
I'm just relieved to know that anxiety does cause illness and now I know why.
So what do we do about it?
This doctor doesn't hand out drugs unless it's absolutely necessary as he believes in helping our bodies to heal themselves. I'm having 6 sessions of accupuncture which he says will help my body to start producing cortisol again, and he's put me on lots of vitamins and supplements to start repairing the damage done by the years of anxiety.
I will keep posting as I continue with this treatment to let anyone interested know how it goes.